


Broken Bird

by AHaplessBystander



Category: Batman (Comics), Batman - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Gen, Jason Todd is Alive, Knightfall, Resurrected Jason Todd, Sadness
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-12-17
Updated: 2016-12-16
Packaged: 2018-09-09 03:31:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,252
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8874100
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AHaplessBystander/pseuds/AHaplessBystander
Summary: Set during Knightfall, Dick has taken over as Batman and has grown close with Tim as Robin. On a stormy night Dick finds a boy collapsed at the manor gate, someone he thought was dead: Jason Todd.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Abbyromana](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Abbyromana/gifts).



Wayne Manor was quiet. Many of it’s rooms unlived in for years now. Dick had grown up there and with Bruce, Alfred and himself it had seemed a little bit fuller and brighter. Now most of the rooms stood dark again, the only inhabitants himself and Tim. The occasional visitor would drop by but they never stayed long. So they fell further into their work as vigilantes to keep them occupied.

With Bruce absent Dick stood as Batman, patrolling the city with Robin by his side. The loss Dick felt the most around the house was Alfred. He still refused to talk with Bruce and return from England. Dick got where he was coming from in their argument, he really did, but it didn’t stop him from missing Alfred’s warm presence.

Gotham’s sky had let loose a torrential downpour earlier in the week that had yet to pass. The streets were flooded and the oppressive rain seemed to deter even the worst of criminals. Dick had a feeling of unease, maybe it was because day now looked the same as night, it had been with him all week and he couldn’t shake it.

It was hours before Batman and Robin were due on the streets and Dick felt the need to move. He’d done a light workout that morning and tried to meditate afterwards, center himself, but neither had helped stop the twitch in his muscles and mind. So he paced back and forth in front of the large windows in the study. He watched the rain come down in sheets on the front gardens and drive of the manor, letting his mind take him where it needed.

Tim was spread out on the floor by the fireplace working through his homework. He had told Dick to sit down an hour ago and hadn’t said anything since. Dick appreciated his silence, he couldn’t explain why he was feeling this way and just needed to let it run it’s course so he might be able to relax again sometime soon.

Out the window something caught his eye. He tried to focus on it but the rain made it near impossible to see clearly so he let it go, drawing his eyes across the yard and back. Again something drew his eye, it looked like movement, down near the entry gate on the driveway. Vague shapes were all he could make out and whatever had moved seemed to have stopped.

A trick of his unsettled mind he decided, resuming his pacing. Tim glanced over at him but blessedly kept quiet, not questions his sudden stop. He tried to focus on something else, think about what they still had to do, there was so much clean up to take care of after Bane and Jean-Paul. Killer Croc and Two-Face were Batman’s biggest priority, still loose and apparently laying low now that they had escaped from Arkham.

Dick’s mind started to wander, slipped back to the movement he had caught and the feeling of something being wrong intensified.

“I’m going for a walk,” he told Tim, crossing the room to the door.

“Really? In this weather? Are you sure?” he asked.

“Just around the grounds, I’ll be back soon,” Dick shouted back.

He left through the back door and made his way to the brick and rod iron wall that surrounded the property. Dick slowly followed it around toward the front of the house to where he had last seen the movement. The rain was icy and the cold penetrated the thick jacket he wore, he knew he would be soaked by the time he lapped the house.

His feet sunk into the muddy earth but he couldn’t find anything amiss. Dick looked toward the entry gate, it was still closed. Then he picked up a flash of color on the ground. Red.

An injured animal?

As he got closer he realized it was a red jacket. He picked up his pace, hindered by the soft ground. It was a body, sodden clothes soaked through by the rain and covered in mud.

“Hey! Are you okay?”

No response or movement so Dick moved forward, grabbing the boy by the shoulders and turning him over. The boy had short black hair, like it was growing back in from being shaved completely off, high cheekbones and a scar on the edge of his hairline.

“Jason?” Dick whispered.

~~~

“What is it? What’s going on?!” Tim asked rushing after Dick.

He had picked Jason up and rushed him indoors, carrying the cold body through the house and to the Batcave entrance.

“Jason.”

“What?” Tim asked again.

“It’s Jason!”

Dick held him close, Jason wasn’t shivering, he’d probably been out in the rain for hours if he had walked to the manor. Judging from the dirty, tattered clothes he’d probably been outside for a lot longer than that even. He took him through the hidden passage, almost running down the stairs to the cave.

“Dick wait! Jason Todd is dead!” Tim called after him.

He took him into the medical wing of the cave, depositing him on a gurney and started to strip the wet clothes off him.

“He’s right here. I found him by the gate.” Dick said.

“How do we know it’s him?” Tim grabbed Dick’s hand, making him pause for only a moment before he went back to piling blankets on top of Jason’s body.

“I guess we’ll have to find out,” Dick took his pulse, “Let’s get him warmed up and then we can take a blood sample. His files in the computer are probably encrypted.”

“Okay, I’m on it.”

Jason’s hand is cold in his as he holds it.

“Jason. What happened to you?”

~~~

He had almost missed the moment Jason opened his eyes. A half hour had passed before the boy had started to shiver again. Dick had been watching the tremors in his hands when he glanced up at Jason’s face to find his eyes half open and unfocused.

Dick stood over him, a hand placed on his face getting no response. When he says his name Jason’s eyes focus on him for a moment.

“Bruce,” is all that came out in a slight whisper and Jason slipped back unconscious.

He turned around to see Tim at the end of a table with the blood kit and they shared a look of horror.

The blood draw garnered no reactions from the unconscious boy and the test went even quicker.

“It’s him,” Tim said quietly.

Dick let out a sigh and tried to hold back his tears.

“Dick. We need to contact Bruce.”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

“He should know about this! He’ll know what to do,” Tim gestured toward Jason.

“You weren’t here, you don’t know how Jason’s death affected Bruce! He just relived the memory it, I don’t think he’ll be able to make any rational decisions.”

Tim looked like he swallowed down his next response and took a few breaths before he spoke again, “So what do you think we should do? We’re not doctors, we have no idea what happened to him.”

Dick raised his eyebrows, “We look into it. And I know someone else we could call.”

“And then what?”

He reached out and put a firm hand on Tim’s shoulder, “Jason’s one of us. We take care of him.”

He gave Tim a weak smile and headed of to call the one person he could always count on to help when they needed it most, Alfred.

**Author's Note:**

> I really like this prompt and have more ideas for it. So I might keep writing it and turn this into a much longer story.  
> I'm a sucker for the batboys taking care of each other.


End file.
